Donald Trump keeps giving Republicans major cause for alarm — because he's still attacking them

"I wonder if I could say — you know, remember lyin'. Lyin'. I
won’t say ‘Lyin' Ted' — I refuse to say it," he told a crowd
during a Friday rally in Fresno, California.

“Lyin’ Ted!" Trump then exclaimed. "Holds that Bible high, puts
it down, and then he lies. Lyin’ Ted. Well, I’m going to retire
that from Ted — I’m not going to call Ted that anymore."

Trump had resurrected perhaps his most infamous moniker to
discuss shifting it from Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who
challenged him for the Republican nomination, to Hillary Clinton.

But the incident helped illuminate a still-signature part of
Trump's campaign rallies: his insults of fellow Republicans.

The Manhattan billionaire is nearly a full month into being the
GOP's presumptive nominee, but his rallies over the past week
have shown that he doesn't appear to be easing up on fellow
Republicans who have drawn his ire.

During a Tuesday rally in New Mexico, for example, Trump
unleashed on Susana Martinez, the state's governor. Martinez is
the first Latina governor in US history. And she's a
Republican.

But all that didn't stop Trump for attacking Martinez — one of a
handful of GOP governors who have yet to come out in support of
Trump — for not attending his rally.

"We have to get your governor to get going — she’s got to do a
better job, OK?" Trump said. "Your governor has got to
do a better job. ... She’s not doing the job. Hey, maybe
I’ll run for governor of New Mexico — I’ll get this place going.
She’s not doing the job. We got to get her moving. Come on. Let’s
go, governor."

New Mexico Gov. Susana
Martinez.AP Photo/Kathy Willens,
File

GOP strategist and commentator Evan Siegfried, who is anti-Trump,
wrote on Business Insider the following day that the
remark showed Republicans can't trust the real-estate magnate.

He wrote:

A few days ago, Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, made it
clear to Republicans that if they distanced themselves from
Trump, they would not face any retribution. This was a smart move
considering how toxic Trump is with every key demographic needed
to win an election. Unfortunately, it seems that Donald Trump
either did not get the memo or, even worse, he decided to ignore
it. The message this sends to other Republicans should be
chilling: Trump cannot be taken at his word.

Later in the week, Trump homed in on two of his favorite targets
that have said they will not support him: Jeb Bush, the
former Florida governor and failed 2016 presidential hopeful, and
Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee.

Tony Fratto, who served as deputy press secretary during the
George W. Bush administration, called Trump a "vile creature"
when discussing his continued penchant for ripping
Republicans.

"Look, I don't whitewash my views on this — I think there's never
been a more vile creature to ever run for president than Donald
Trump," Fratto told Business Insider in an interview last week.
"I think too many people tend to treat him like a normal
candidate and look at the things he says and does and tries to
find normal explanations for them, but there aren't any normal
explanations for them because he's a monster."

"And monsters don't do normal, rational things," he continued.

Fratto said he had "no earthly idea" why he would target Martinez
when he needs to improve his standing among both women and
Hispanics, groups with which Trump holds distinctly low
favorability ratings.

"Because there is no normal idea — there is no normal, rational
reason for that," he said. "It is irrational and destructive, and
that's why I think ultimately, at the end of the day, that's why
he loses."

ABC

Last week's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump
has consolidated support within the party.

That poll found just 6% of Republicans surveyed said they
wouldn't back Trump in the fall, while 86% responded that they'd
support the presumptive Republican nominee. An ABC
News/Washington Post poll found near identical results.

But Fratto said consolidating the party isn't going to be enough
to win, and the constant insults will have to stop for Trump to
have a shot.

"We have had the Republican Party unified for multiple
elections," he said. "And the truth is we've won the popular vote
in exactly one election since 1988. So in the best of times, with
the best of candidates, and a unified party, we have a difficult
time winning national elections."

He continued:

If you think we're going to win one with a candidate that is
intent every single day to divide the party is all you need to
know about why he's going to lose. The question for me isn't
whether he's going to win or lose — I'm very confident he's going
to lose — the question is how much damage is he going to do to
the party.

How long will people like me feel like we want to be a part of a
party that would nominate someone like him and have to spend all
of our time explaining the really ridiculous things that he does.